Drug-Testing for Welfare Benefits

April 13, 2016

Many states have implemented or discussed plans that require their welfare recipients to pass a drug test in order to be eligible for benefits. These policies have their proponents and opponents, and in this article Wonk Tank examines the arguments.

Background

Discussions of drug-testing welfare recipients began in earnest following the 1996 Federal Welfare Reform Act.[1] This act did not require states to drug test their welfare recipients as a requirement for receiving assistance,[2] but Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other block grants to states allowed for drug-testing recipients after the enactment of the new law. Many states have considered or enacted legislation around this issue. Twenty states in 2009 and 12 states in 2010 considered such bills, but few have been passed due to the legal dilemmas of implementing random drug tests. A 2003 Michigan Court of Appeals case decided that subjecting every welfare user to a drug test without any evidence of drug use was unconstitutional.[3] That is not the only court challenge to these types of laws- in December of 2013, a Florida federal judge declared that state’s drug testing law unconstitutional.[4] Despite this concern, however, 12 states passed laws requiring some kind of drug test for welfare recipients between 2012 and 2014. Currently, 15 states have some kind of legislation requiring that welfare recipients be tested for drugs under certain circumstances. This issue has become more of a focus for legislators- in 2016 so far, 17 states have introduced some kind of legislation surrounding drug testing for welfare benefits.[5]

The state laws requiring drug tests for welfare recipients vary widely from state to state in their requirements. Utah requires applicants to fill out a written questionnaire screening for drug use, while Tennessee and Oklahoma require drug testing for all applicants to its welfare program.[6] So far, no states have enacted legislation requiring that welfare recipients submit to random drug tests in order to continue their eligibility for welfare. [7] States also vary in how they use the results of the tests. Some states refuse to offer benefits to applicants who fail the tests or who refuse to take the test. Others simply require that participants in the program undergo some kind of drug abuse counseling or treatment concurrently while receiving welfare. In addition, some states require drug testing for TANF only, and others drug test for TANF, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) and even Medicaid. [8]

The Debate

One of the primary benefits of drug-testing welfare recipients from an economic perspective include potential savings for taxpayers and reduced strain on state aid programs. When Governor Rick Scott of Florida planned to start drug testing welfare recipients in 2008, the state had a $3.6 billion dollar shortfall in their budget. In 2009, Florida saved a grand total of $198,400 out of a welfare program that cost around $178 million—arguably a small difference, but the savings are expected to continue to rise as the program becomes more efficient. [9] Moreover, the relatively small amount of savings has contributed to a dialogue of drug-testing welfare recipients in order to stop state-funded drug use.

In addition to economic benefits of welfare drug testing, according to some experts, such a policy would also deter welfare recipients from using illegal drugs. However, despite sentiments that this policy is a right direction in the “war against drugs”, such a link between the policy and lowering rates of addiction has not yet been found in any states. Finally, some believe that welfare drug testing is only fair because other independent corporations and agencies also conduct drug tests.

Critics of welfare drug testing claim that it has been widely ineffective in reducing drug use in almost all the states where testing currently takes place. A 1996 report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that there is no significant difference in the rate of illegal drug use by welfare applicants and non-applicants.[10] On the other hand, over 70% of illegal-drug users between the age 18 and 49 are actually employed full time.

Even if the program is efficient, economists worry about the high cost of the program, which may even exceed the savings to the budget. Idaho’s state government commissioned a study of the likely financial impact of a drug welfare testing program and found that the costs would in fact exceed the savings.[11] In Florida, the state has had to spend a considerable amount of money defending the policy in court and testing itself costs $240 for 40 applicants, costing tens of thousands for all applicants in the state.

Finally, the primary argument against welfare drug testing is that it is unconstitutional. The Fourth Amendment puts limits on the types of searches that the state can carry out, and drug tests are a kind of search. In the Supreme Court case Chandler v. Miller in 1997, the Supreme Court voted 8-1 to strike down a Georgia law requiring candidates for state offices to pass a drug test, and likely, the court would vote the same way for policies that include drug-testing welfare recipients.

<h3>National Center for Education Statistics</h3><p><strong><img width="400" height="80" alt="" src="/live/image/gid/4/width/400/height/80/479_nces.rev.1407787656.jpg" class="lw_image lw_image479 lw_align_right" data-max-w="400" data-max-h="80"/>The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations.</strong> NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. NCES has an extensive Statistical Standards Program that consults and advises on methodological and statistical aspects involved in the design, collection, and analysis of data collections in the Center. To learn more about the NCES, <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/about/" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p><p> ﻿Quick link to NCES Data Tools: <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/datatools/index.asp?DataToolSectionID=4" target="_blank">http://nces.ed.gov/datatools/index.asp?DataToolSectionID=4</a></p><p> Quick link to Quick Tables and Figures: <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/quicktables/" target="_blank">http://nces.ed.gov/quicktables/</a></p><p> Quick link to NCES Fast Facts (Note: The primary purpose of the Fast Facts website is to provide users with concise information on a range of educational issues, from early childhood to adult learning.): <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/" target="_blank">http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/#</a></p><p>See all <a href="/data-resources/">data and resources</a> »</p>

<h3>Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED®)</h3><p><strong><img width="180" height="79" alt="" src="/live/image/gid/4/width/180/height/79/481_fred-logo.rev.1407788243.jpg" class="lw_image lw_image481 lw_align_right" data-max-w="222" data-max-h="97"/>An online database consisting of more than 72,000 economic data time series from 54 national, international, public, and private sources.</strong> FRED®, created and maintained by Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, goes far beyond simply providing data: It combines data with a powerful mix of tools that help the user understand, interact with, display, and disseminate the data.</p><p> Quick link to data page: <a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/tags/series" target="_blank">http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/tags/series</a></p><p>See all <a href="/data-resources/">data and resources</a> »</p>

<h3>The Penn World Table</h3><p> The Penn World Table provides purchasing power parity and national income accounts converted to international prices for 189 countries/territories for some or all of the years 1950-2010.</p><p><a href="https://pwt.sas.upenn.edu/php_site/pwt71/pwt71_form.php" target="_blank">Quick link.</a> </p><p>See all <a href="/data-resources/">data and resources</a> »</p>

<h3>Internal Revenue Service: Tax Statistics</h3><p><img width="155" height="200" alt="" src="/live/image/gid/4/width/155/height/200/486_irs_logo.rev.1407789424.jpg" class="lw_image lw_image486 lw_align_left" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/155/height/200/486_irs_logo.rev.1407789424.jpg 2x" data-max-w="463" data-max-h="596"/>Find statistics on business tax, individual tax, charitable and exempt organizations, IRS operations and budget, and income (SOI), as well as statistics by form, products, publications, papers, and other IRS data.</p><p> Quick link to <strong>Tax Statistics, where you will find a wide range of tables, articles, and data</strong> that describe and measure elements of the U.S. tax system: <a href="http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Stats-2" target="_blank">http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Stats-2</a></p><p>See all <a href="/data-resources/">data and resources</a> »</p>

<h3>Congressional Budget Office</h3><p><img width="180" height="180" alt="" src="/live/image/gid/4/width/180/height/180/380_cbo-logo.rev.1406822035.jpg" class="lw_image lw_image380 lw_align_right" data-max-w="180" data-max-h="180"/>Since its founding in 1974, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has produced independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process.</p><p> The agency is strictly nonpartisan and conducts objective, impartial analysis, which is evident in each of the dozens of reports and hundreds of cost estimates that its economists and policy analysts produce each year. CBO does not make policy recommendations, and each report and cost estimate discloses the agency’s assumptions and methodologies. <strong>CBO provides budgetary and economic information in a variety of ways and at various points in the legislative process.</strong> Products include baseline budget projections and economic forecasts, analysis of the President’s budget, cost estimates, analysis of federal mandates, working papers, and more.</p><p> Quick link to Products page: <a href="http://www.cbo.gov/about/our-products" target="_blank">http://www.cbo.gov/about/our-products</a></p><p> Quick link to Topics: <a href="http://www.cbo.gov/topics" target="_blank">http://www.cbo.gov/topics</a></p><p>See all <a href="/data-resources/">data and resources</a> »</p>

<h3>National Bureau of Economic Research (Public Use Data Archive)</h3><p><img width="180" height="43" alt="" src="/live/image/gid/4/width/180/height/43/478_nber.rev.1407530465.jpg" class="lw_image lw_image478 lw_align_right" data-max-w="329" data-max-h="79"/>Founded in 1920, the <strong>National Bureau of Economic Research</strong> is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works. The NBER is committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community.</p><p> Quick Link to <strong>Public Use Data Archive</strong>: <a href="http://www.nber.org/data/" target="_blank">http://www.nber.org/data/</a></p><p>See all <a href="/data-resources/">data and resources</a> »</p>